The Right Way To Eat

What did you have for dinner last night? Chicken rice? Nasi goreng? Korean BBQ? Or perhaps sushi?

Most importantly, I would like to ask how you ate your dinner.

Let’s say that the main dishes on your table was steak, Caesar salad, fried potatoes and rice/bread: Which dish would you start eating first? I would guess that you would probably pounce on your juicy steak with fried potatoes (and if you add cheese sauce, mmm… extra yummy) first – am I right?

It’s safe to say that you probably already know that this meal, despite its high yummy factor, has a lot of calories in total. If this is something that concerns you, do as what the Japanese do - change the order in which you eat your meal so that you eat healthier!

Eat your salad & vegetables first

In Japan, it is a practice to eat our salad and vegetables first. The vegetables contain dietary fibres that turn into ‘jelly’ texture after they get digested in your stomach. These ‘jellied’ fibres have the ability to ‘wrap’ up incoming food such as meats, rice and potatoes and prevent your blood-sugar level from rising rapidly by reducing the absorption of carbohydrates into your body. For an added boost to this action, consume water-soluble dietary fibres such as avocado, okra (ladies’ fingers), mulukhiya, carrots and sweet potatoes etc.

An example of a Japanese home-cooked meal.

Controlling a rapid increase in blood-sugar level is a key

Generally, it is common for our blood-sugar level to go up and down during meal times as the sugary ingredients from food turn into a substance called “glucose”. Glucose gets carried through our entire body by blood, and they eventually turn into energy. At the same time, glucose also needs a type of hormone named “insulin” to bring it into our organ cells.

So what would happen if our blood-sugar level rapidly shoots up? Well, the insulin will have to work very hard to transport the glucose all over our body. Ultimately, the leftover glucose will be stored as “fat” in our body. This is why it’s important to control the blood-sugar level in our body so that it does not go up too high.

Just remember – a healthier meal starts with eating your vegetables first. Changing the order of the way you eat will prevent you from producing extra fat and help you to stop overeating since you’ll probably feel full after eating a whole dish of vegetables first!